Does anyone know which frame bags will take a 3ltr bladder, not necessarily looking for a full triangle bag, but one that mounts along to top tube, leaving access to the seat and down tube bottle bosses?
I've tried a Alpkit Analoko 48 (4ltr capacity) but the full bladder barely fits in let along zipping up Just been looking at the Apidura 6ltr Backcountry Frame Pack but wanted to ask if any other options/others experience before buying.
TIA

Any reason why you want to carry 3L of water? It weighs more than most tents ... even heavy ones. I appreciate you may be travelling to a dry / arid country but thought I'd ask.

Also ... my experience of sticking a bladder inside a frame bag is that the bladder is a faff to refill and you're never quite sure how much water you have left.

Was going to ask the same thing, but didn't feel quite right, so thanks for asking first Stuart . If an arid trip, interested to hear whereabouts. 3kg of "loose" water might cause some interesting stability issues? Sounds like you're needing water bottles on the bosses as well?

Now I'm worried I drink too much! I always get through roughly 1ltr water every 10 miles +/- of high effort mountain biking, my rides are always 30 miles plus. If I just bimble along then I drink much less water.
I'm trying to go packless to get the weight off me and on to the bike and the hydration bladder is the last thing left to move. I always carry 3ltrs so I know I have 30-40 miles where I don't need to stop and find drink or plan my route around that. Perhaps I've trained myself over the years to drink more than I need to, not that I pee much when I ride though I do sweat a lot...
A bit back to front I know, but I've been storing tools etc in a couple of small bags mounted to the bottle bosses.
The purpose of this isn't so much bike packing but getting geared up towards long one day rides, 100 miles +, which you guys will have good experience of even if over a couple of days.

I use a 1.8 l platypus bladder in a full frame bag, I prefer a water bladder than losable (and sheep sh*t covered ) bottles, filling involves unscrewing the cap and hose which get left on the bike.. A camel back 3 litre bladder goes into it as well but is more faffy given its large sized filler cap and separate hose attachment meaning it has to be removed as well to fill up. 1.8l is generally enough for me, even in this years dry summer. I would expect something like a size large revelate tangle would take a 3l bladder but not my medium sized one.

Yea I'm not a fan of the poo covered water bottle, that's what made me go to hydration bladder ages ago.
What you've said gives another option, a full frame bag and put everything in it...

19ninety wrote:Now I'm worried I drink too much! I always get through roughly 1ltr water every 10 miles +/- of high effort mountain biking, my rides are always 30 miles plus. If I just bimble along then I drink much less water.

I'd read up on Hyponatremia

Chew wrote:

19ninety wrote:Now I'm worried I drink too much! I always get through roughly 1ltr water every 10 miles +/- of high effort mountain biking, my rides are always 30 miles plus. If I just bimble along then I drink much less water.

I'd read up on Hyponatremia

I should add I carry either electrolyte powder or 'energy' power to add to the water.
Even drinking that amount of water when I get back from a long ride I'm often dehydrated and thirsty.

I used carry a 1 l bottle in a stem cell XL on the bars and a 1l naglene in a monkii cage on the frame ,decanting the naglene into the bottle tends to get rid of the sheep sh@#e problem , I now use a flat 500 ml platypus bottle rolled up in my jersey pocket and the 1l in stem cell ,you can then either fill the flat bottle or keep it empty till you stop and then fill both up ,don't forget sheep and cow crap still gets on your bladders mouth piece

At this time of year my need/desire to drink while riding diminishes a lot but even in summer I'd never be going through a litre per hour. In fact I'd not be drinking half that amount and most of my rides would be around the 3 hour mark.

Maybe a separate thread on rehydration requirements would throw up some more variations.....

ScotRoutes wrote:At this time of year my need/desire to drink while riding diminishes a lot but even in summer I'd never be going through a litre per hour. In fact I'd not be drinking half that amount and most of my rides would be around the 3 hour mark.

Maybe a separate thread on rehydration requirements would throw up some more variations.....

That's a good idea!

Pro road riders will drink up to a litre an hour depending on conditions, route profile, whether they are in a break or in the pack, etc. Riding hard you'll be in the 10mph sort of range when mountain biking so the OP's intake isn't out of the question. But ... Stage races are rarely more than six hours long and much of that effort will be in zone 2 - just bimbling along - because they are getting the benefits of drafting etc. Liquid intake will be a mixture of plain water and electrolytes.

Once you get towards all day efforts, such as 100 milers, then you aren't going to be able to maintain that level of output, basically you'll be in zone 2 which at the start of the day will feel desperately slow but physiologically it's the pace that with sufficient food and drink you can maintain almost indefinitely.

As Chew says, read up on Hyponatremia, there are deaths each year in marathons because of it. Not to be dismissed out of hand.

Any reason why you (the OP) don't want to stop and refill or plan routes around water sources? It's rare, in the UK at least, not to have some water source within an hour's ride. I can think of only two instances where I've struggled to find water on long rides - once on the Peak 200 because of heavy rain causing the becks to be swollen with sediment and the other on the YD200 where a hot day travelling over limestone terrain meant there was a big gap until I got to a pub.

After a ride are you genuinely dehydrated? I.E. your pee is dark yellow nearly orange rather than straw coloured? Thirst is a poor indicator in normal ranges of dehydration.

Two other scenarios for you Bob.

(a) Road riding at night. Shops etc all closed and either too dark to see water quality or too close to livestock to be trusted. I'll take an extra bottle in those circumstances.

(b) Low temperatures and frozen rivers. Its only caught me out once and that was through my stupidity in not replenishing when the opportunity arose.

You'll probably find you'll sweat a lot less when you don't have 3kg+ strapped to your back

strap one to confusius type bars? Only downside is it gets warm in summer but you always know how much you have left
I usually take one in the summer bikepacking [ 2 litre + bottes]but it is only so i can do a large refil so i have plenty of water in the morning as i am likely to drink 1 litre before riding but it is handy. Probably not quite TLS

My Alpkit custom Stingray fitted a 3L bladder in the top section (I have a horizontal divider).
I used it riding in Greece where top ups were well spaced.
On the trail I used a Katadyn hiker filter that connects directly to a camelbak hose so the bag didn't need to come out.
The fluid was held pretty snug so no flopping around issues.